Massive work ignition, brakes, battery, and more

Mileage: 9121
Did massive work today on the Duc. I was in the garage for over 12 hours. My girlfriend is so sweet, she didn't bug me about spending so much time with the bike. I put on a bunch of new parts including, a battery, Ferodo organic brake pads all around, Dyna Coil ignition coils, plug wires, platinum plugs, Ducati paper air filter, and new starter wires. Everything went smoothly. Did a lot of cleaning along the way and that took the most time. The bike fired up quicker than ever. All of the new ignition parts, combined with a fresh battery and fat starter wires lead to instant fire up.

I took the bike for a slightly longer ride and it performed excellent. Slowly, it is turning into the bike I have dreamed about.

New coils and battery.

New wires - yes I know my head bolts are rusted!

New tires, chain, and sprockets

Mileage: 9108
Man, this dang bike need everything. Although the tires on the bike had tread left there was dry rot on the side walls. I didn't lke the idea f the tire letting go at 75 miles per hour so I whipped out the Mastercard. I was going to fit Michelin Pilot Power CT2s but my sense got the better of me and I decided on a tire that lasts longer. At the last minute I changed my mind and chose the Michelin Pilot Road 2. I thought about the grippier Powers but I thought "I am really not going to be on the edge of the tire that much?" I read a bunch of reviews and a lot of people said the Road 2s are a great combination of grip, wet weather performance, and mileage so I went with them. I am happy with their performance so far.

The chain and sprockets were the ones that came with the bike and they had so much gunk on them. I removed the old ones and replaced them with the new parts I got from CA Cycleworks. The chain tool I bought worked great! Glad I spent the money on it. I installed the JT 15 tooth front and the JT 39 tooth rear and the new DID chain VM520 98 link x-ring chain and got much better take offs than the stock 15/37 gearing.

I only rode a few miles but the bike felt a lot better. It still had bad throttle response and sputtering. I will change more parts tomorrow!

Wheels off getting new tires.

New chain and sprockets with 2 added teeth on rear.

Stock exhaust installed

Mileage: 9108
I finally got back to Florida where my bike is and fitted the stock exhaust. Once I new the correct order for the washers and the spacers it took all of three minutes. The bike is much quieter and the neighbors and my girlfriend love me. I love the look and even the sound of the D&D pipes but the bike is much quieter and I am not setting off car alarms any more!

Didn't ride today just swapped exhaust.

Not too snazzy looking, but nice and quiet.

Chain tool on the cheap

I have been stressing about how to get my old chain off of the bike and get the new one on. I have read all kinds of stuff about making your own tools, using center punches and Dremel tools, but I really wanted a D.I.D. KM501E Chain Tool. They are over $100 and I am only going to change the chain every 8000 miles. I have been searching around for a while and finally came across a knock off on eBay. I was skeptical but I came across this article and the user gave it excellent reviews. I went ahead and ordered it for $45 shipped. I will report on on how good it is here.

When I worked in my father's muffler shop as a teen, he always said I should buy quality tools. Of course this is when he thought I might be a professional mechanic for the rest of my life. I am not a pro wrencher so I have changed my thoughts on this idea. If it's something I will use a lot, like wrenches, I will buy a good set, but a chain breaker/riveter? I will probably use this 3 times in my life so I figured I would save some money and get the knock off. Apologies to D.I.D. if you sponsor this site I will buy your tool. All of this being said, my father has been spotted at Harbor Freight more than once...

No more stressing about odd chain removal methods.

Exhausting exhaust

Jeesh. It seems I suffer from the male disease of notreadingthedirectionsitis. The stock mufflers were too close because I had the spacer on the wrong side of the muffler bracket. I will try to refit the stock pipes when I return to Florida. I now have a factory service manual and a parts manual in PDF format so I can dig in and see how things are supposed to be. The manuals have very clear breakouts of where parts go and in what order.

I think refitting the stock exhaust will solve some of my problems. It seems that after the D&D cans were installed the carbs were never rejetted or adjusted properly resulting in poor idle and backfiring. I am going to start by getting the stock mufflers mounted and the returning the carbs to their stock settings.

Happy 4th everybody!

This is how the parts are ordered on the bracket.